{"id":310575,"date":"2026-01-29T23:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T23:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/310575\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T23:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T23:34:07","slug":"judge-lifts-order-against-michael-flatley-in-lord-of-the-dance-court-dispute-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/310575\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge lifts order against Michael Flatley in Lord of the Dance court dispute \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Flatley<\/a> is to resume control of The Lord of the Dance after beating a legal challenge that had barred him from any involvement in the production\u2019s upcoming 30th anniversary tour.<\/p>\n

A judgment was delivered at the Chancery Court in Belfast on Thursday following a civil case application in which \u201ctrenchant and quite personal\u201d allegations were made on both sides, according to Mr Justice Simpson.<\/p>\n

The judge ordered the lifting of a temporary injunction blocking the choreographer from participation in the show, as it could lead to \u201cpotentially unquantifiable\u201d financial losses.<\/p>\n

There were \u201chotly disputed issues of fact\u201d aired during the proceedings that could not be dealt with in a civil setting, the judge said. They were matters for a trial in the future, he added.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside the court, Mr Flatley described the outcome as a \u201cfantastic victory\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lord of the Dance is to begin its 30th anniversary run in Dublin next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t be in the car 10 seconds and I\u2019ll be calling all my dancers, all of the cast and crew,\u201d Mr Flatley told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll their families have flown in and we\u2019re going to lift the roof on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be the greatest version of this show that you will ever see.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely delighted.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Michael Flatley \u2018living life of Monaco millionaire without funds to do so\u2019, court hearsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Asked if he was back in control of the production, Mr Flatley said: \u201cYes, 100 per cent\u201d.<\/p>\n

The civil case centred on a temporary injunction granted to Switzer Consulting Ltd a fortnight ago that blocked Mr Flatley\u2019s involvement in the planned worldwide tour.<\/p>\n

Switzer sued the 67-year-old for alleged breach of contract.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, both parties struck a formal service agreement that allowed Switzer to run the shows.<\/p>\n

The temporary injunction was first filed by Switzer director Joe Gallagher on January 12th.<\/p>\n

Mr Gallagher, described as \u201cthe face of Switzer\u201d during the hearing, applied to block Mr Flatley from \u201ccancelling, postponing, or in any way interfering\u201d with the Lord Of The Dance, including forbidding him to \u201ccontact promoters or venues\u201d, the judge said.<\/p>\n

The court heard he has received nearly \u00a3430,000 in royalties in a 15-month period after the July 2024 agreement was signed.<\/p>\n

Mr Justice Simpson was told that 268 performances of Lord of the Dance have been booked across Europe and North America in the \u201cglobal venture\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dublin show is good to go. But it\u2019s the effect which Mr Flatley\u2019s interference and conduct may have on shows down the line which essentially prompts this application,\u201d Switzer\u2019s barrister, Gary McHugh, told the court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In his affidavit, giving an address in Monaco, Mr Flatley rejected Switzer\u2019s depiction of his character and financial reputation.<\/p>\n

Allegations were made about the retired performer\u2019s \u201cdifficult financial history\u201d.<\/p>\n

The dancer\u2019s former financial adviser, Des Walshe, claimed his ex-client had been living the lifestyle of a Monaco millionaire \u201cwithout the funds to do so\u201d since 2019.<\/p>\n

He had borrowed \u20ac75,000 to pay for his own birthday party, the court was told.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the bluntest terms, he was faking it on a multimillion euro scale,\u201d Mr Walshe wrote in a letter to Mr Flatley\u2019s solicitor in Dublin last month.<\/p>\n

Mr Flatley\u2019s barrister rejected claims that Mr Flatley \u201cwas a poor manager of his own affairs and was a man with substantial debts\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAd-hominem attacks\u201d had been made on his character, the court heard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Flatley is to resume control of The Lord of the Dance after beating a legal challenge that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[663,18,117,10476,19,17,4778,14186],"class_list":{"0":"post-310575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-belfast","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-high-court","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-michael-flatley","15":"tag-riverdance"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115981009838598800","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}